Viruses plague man. Hepatitis, herpes, certain types of leukemia, influenza, and the common cold are all diseases of viral etiology. Of these diseases, influenza and the common cold are sometimes trivialized. The symptoms of influenza are fever, nasal congestion, headache, and a dry or sore throat. Modern medicine treats these diseases with antibiotics, cortisone and antihistamines. These methods generally address only the symptoms of influenza.
Influenza is caused by filterable viruses. There are true influenza viruses (Influenza Myxovirues A, B&C) and Paramyxoviruses (Parainfluenza viruses 1,2,3,4, mumps, measles and respiratory syncytial viruses). Influenza viruses are unrelated antigenically and do not produce cross immunity to one another. There is rapid mutation of strains and substrains of this virus. These viruses are characterized by low antigenicity; so acquired immunity is of short duration. A person may become inflicted more than once. A vaccine for Influenza must be prepared from the same strain prevalent at that time.
Generally influenza is characterized by headache, fever, myalgia, tracheitis and bronchitis. In severe cases, bronchiolitis and bronchopneumonia may occur from secondary bacterial invasion of lungs.
Parainfluenza viruses cause fever, mild respiratory symptoms and pharyngitis, croup, acute tracheitis and bronchitis in children.
Respiratory syncytial viruses cause in adults cough, minor upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, bronchiolitis and bronchopneumonia.
The mode of transmission of influenza is through droplet infection (direct and indirect). The incubation period is 1-3 days. The attack rate is 10-25% in large communities and 40% in closed ones. The clinical picture starts abruptly with headache, shivering, back pain and temperature increasing rapidly from 38.5 degrees C. to 40 degrees C. during the first 24 hours. Headache is frontal, throbbing and its severity is proportional to the degree of fever. Cough brief and specific, not productive of sputum. Substernal burning pain (tracheitis), dryness and soreness of throat & nasal obstruction with no discharge. Myalgia is early especially in adults (severe aches in back and limbs). Patients may complain of pain on moving eyes. Sweating is marked. For diagnosis; physician generally do not need laboratory investigations; but sometimes to be sure we can isolate the virus from nasal discharge or we search for the antibodies in blood (compliment fixation test and Haemagglutination inhibition test). The period of communicability is from the start of fever.
In uncomplicated influenza; the face is flushed with congested nasal & pharyngial mucosa, few rales over chest, fever is <5 days, cough persists for sometime after subsidence of fever, physical & mental fatigue as well as difficulty in concentration during convalescent stage.
In complicated influenza there is bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, carditis, pericarditis and neurological complications. Secondary bacterial infection finds its way to the lungs causing more complications.
Common cold; represents 60 types of Rhinoviruses belonging to Picorna group of viruses. The latter is responsible for the most frequent of all human infections (common cold). Most people suffer from 2-4 colds every year, causing loss of millions of man-hours of work. The incubation period is 1-2 days. On the contrary to influenza, the fever is minimal or even absent. Nasal symptoms predominate, there is excess nasal discharge (minor in influenza, due to severe nasal irritation, followed in 1-2 days by coryza for few days, sneezing & nasal obstruction with thin watery nasal discharge, watery eyes, malaise and sensation of dullness, discomfort. During next 2 or 3 days, systemic symptoms subside & nasal discharge becomes mucoid or mucopurulent and tenaceous.
Herpes Zoster is a viral infection usually referred to as VZV. VZV is the same virus that causes Chicken Pox. Herpes Zoster is also called Shingles. The infection is characterized by localized rash and pain. Untreated, the rash typically lasts 2 to 5 weeks. One unfortunate complication is a persistent pain after the rash has healed. Anyone that has had Chicken Pox has significant chance of getting herpes zoster. The mechanism maybe that the virus lays dormant in the body until there is a break down in the body's immune system. This breakdown occurs and the virus reactivates in the form of herpes zoster or shingles.
Herpes simplex (cold Sores) is caused by a virus, herpes simplex 1 (HSV 1). Herpes simplex (cold Sores) is a viral infection, which attacks the skin and nervous system, and usually produces small, irritating, and sometimes painful fluid-filled blisters on or around the mouth and nose. After the initial outbreak, the virus usually lies dormant in the skin or in nerve tissue until something triggers another eruption.
This invention is a method of treating influenza, the common cold, sinusitis, herpes zoster, and herpes simplex by using one single antiviral.
The inventors for many years worked on treatments for hepatitis. Some herbs, combinations of herbs and extracts of herbs were thought to be effective against hepatitis. One inventor, Said Shalaby, is a practicing physician in Cairo, Egypt. In treating many patients with herbal remedies over a nine-year period, Shalaby could not recall a single case of a patient having either a common cold or influenza when the patient was undergoing a herbal treatment. Most of the patients were infected with hepatitis, either Hepatitis C or Hepatitis B. As the purpose of the various herbal treatments was to reduce the viral load, it was concluded by inventor, Said Shalaby, that the herbs contained a general anti-viral, effective against two forms of hepatitis, the subject of a prior US Patent application by the two inventors here and apparently effective against other diverse viruses such as those which cause influenza, the common cold and herpes zoster.
A survey of anti-viral drugs now marketed listed some 24 different drugs. (Scientific American November 2001, page 61) Each drug was designed to combat a particular virus, or to work in combination with another of the listed drugs to combat a particular virus. None are generic anti-virus remedies. Judging from the range of different viruses, which this invention is an effective treatment, it appears that, in addition to being a treatment for the virus mentioned within the examples below, the invention is a generic anti-viral.